a_ published by Aldus (1508) he says that he cast his eye
over the final proofs, not in search of errors, but to see whether he
wished to make any changes. But in the main his books, like everybody
else's, were left to the care of others.

The fact is that in the splendour of the new invention of printing,
the possibilities of accompanying error had not been realized. In just
the same spirit the idea went abroad that when a book had been
printed, its manuscript original had no value. We have seen how
Erasmus was allowed to carry off the manuscript of Valla from Louvain
to Paris. Aldus received codices from all parts of Europe, sent by
owners with the request that they should be printed; but no desire for
their return. In 1531 Simon Grynaeus came from Basle to Oxford and was
given precious texts from college libraries to take back with him and
have published. Generosity helped to mislead. To keep a manuscript to
oneself for personal enjoyment seemed churlish. If it were printed,
any one who wished might enjoy it. That any degeneration might come in
by the way, that the printed text might contain blunders, was not
perceived. The process seemed so straightforward, so mechanical; as
certain a method of reproduction as photography. But the human element
in it was overlooked. _Humanum est errare_.

It was the same with the New Testament as with Seneca. When the form
of the work had been decided upon--a Greek text side by side with
Erasmus' translation, and notes at the end--two young scholars,
Gerbell and Oecolampadius, were installed in charge of the book. For
the Greek Erasmus had expected, he tells us, to find at Basle some
manuscript which he could give to the printers without further
trouble. But he was annoyed to find that there was none available
which was good enough, and he positively had to go through the one
that he selected from beginning to end before he could entrust it to
his correctors. In addition to this he put into their hands another
manuscript, which had been borrowed from Reuchlin; presumably to help
them in case they should have any difficulty in deciphering the
first. However, after a time he discovered that they were taking
liberties, and following the text of the second manuscript, wherever
they preferred its reading: as though the editing were in their own
hands. He took it from them and found another manuscript which agreed
more closely with the first. For the book of Revelation only one Greek
ma